New FANS Meal Card for Virtual Students

Our amazing GCS ETS department has created an easy way in Backpack for parents with children attending the Virtual Program to provide proof of their child’s identity and meal status when they are picking up meals once per week at one of the 15 GCS locations.

Backpack is GCS’s program that allows parents to see and update information about their students.  It has been updated to include a FANS Meal Card for all students.  This meal card will show you your students current Free & Reduced Status (Free, Reduced, or Full Paid).  Information on how to set up a GCS Backpack account can be found below.

Setting Up GCS Backpack Account

Meals may be distributed to adults when children are not present if the adult is able to demonstrate proof of the child’s identity. Valid forms of identification may include, but are not limited to the new GCS Backpack FANS Meal Card, school identification card, school report card, child’s passport, birth certificate, government-issued child identification card, or any document proving parent/guardian identity and relationship to the child, such as an adoption decree, doctor, clinic, or hospital record, religious record, or daycare center record. The new FANS Meal Card is the preferred documentation to prove your child’s identity when picking up meals.

Open your BackPack account and click on the FANS Meal Card button. This card is what the staff will need to scan to provide you with meals for your student.

Beginning on Monday, August 24, Greenville County Schools will be providing meals to students enrolled in the Virtual Program from 15 district locations on Mondays from 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm on a to-go basis. Meals will be served near the parent pick up line or school bus loop. Meal pick up locations will vary by school.

The 15 district locations that will provide meals one time each week are as follows:

One weeks’ worth meals will be provided at a time (5 breakfasts and 5 lunches). Breakfast is free for all GCS students. Full-pay students will be charged $12.50 per week. Students on Reduced status will be charged $2 per week. Students on Free status will receive all meals for free, per USDA guidelines.

Some items included in the meals will be ready to eat, and others will be heat-and-serve items. Parents should contact the cafeteria manager at the school from which they intend to pick up the meals.  Please reserve meals one week in advance to allow sufficient time for GCS cafeteria staff to order products needed to meet the meal demands at that school.

A sampling of menu items that are likely to be included are fresh fruits and applesauce, milk, vegetables, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles, banana bread, chili, pasta alfredo, deli sandwiches, pasta with meat sauce, etc. Menu items are subject to change based on product availability.

Parents should also note that the carry over period for free and reduced meals for the 2020-2021 school year is Monday, October 5. The carry over period is the amount of time students are allowed by USDA to remain on the prior years’ meal status. In order to qualify for free or reduced meals, parents must complete a new free and reduced meal application every school year.

Students that were on free or reduced meal status during the 2019-2020 school year will revert to full paid status on Tuesday, October 6 unless a new meal application is submitted and approved based on USDA eligibility guidelines. Students attending one of the 21 Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools are not required to complete free and reduced meal applications and will automatically receive free meals based on the school’s participation in that USDA program.

The online Free and Reduced Price Meal Applications are available for the 2020-2021 school year and can be accessed on our the FANS website. While paper applications will be at available at schools, the online applications are by far the most accurate and efficient method to apply for Free or Reduced Priced Meals. On average, online applications are processed within 24-48 hour of completion. We highly encourage all parents to take advantage of this simple to use and fast process.

For more information regarding Free and Reduced Price Meal Applications please contact the Food and Nutrition Services office at 355-1251 or by e-mail at bhogue@greenville.k12.sc.us.